Song of Songs 1:7-8, “Tell me whom I love, where You graze Your flock and where You rest Your sheep at midday. Why should I be a veiled women beside the flocks of Your friends...If you do not know, most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the sheep and graze your young ones by the tents of the shepherds.”

If you want your faith increased, get around people of faith. They will call you higher just by being around them. Stir up a desperate hunger in your spirit. How hungry are you for Jesus and His Presence?

Can you think of anyone that you would like to spend time with? For an hour? Or a day? Someone who you would like to be like (to some degree)? That if you could spend time with them, you already have questions ready to ask? Or you would want to just “soak up” their atmosphere? J I have several people on my list: Mike Bickle (pastor of the global prayer movement), Franklin Graham (son of Billy Graham and President of Samaritan’s Purse), and Mother Teresa. These amazing heroes of faith stir up more desire for Jesus in my heart. They are friends of Jesus and I want to follow in their "tracks".

The bride, in this passage asks a question of her lover: Where do you feed your sheep? She is desperate for His nearness. She does not want to stand at a distance~ she is not satisfied with just morsels, she wants Jesus to feed her spirit deeply. This is not the cry of all believers. The bride recognizes that. She is looking for those faithful ones who she can get around to be encouraged & strengthened to continue the journey. Her desire is to be where He is and to be around those (the flock) who are desperate for His nearness.

The second part of her question is one of rest: Where You rest Your sheep at midday? She is weary and overworked (which we learned from verse 6). Her desire is for rest at the time of day when the burning sun beats down, which represents the pressures & trials of life. Only the Good Shepherd creates a place to rest in the midst of life’s cares & anxieties. Being near to Jesus changes your paradigm and puts all things into perspective.

The Lover answers His beloved in verse 8. He affirms her beauty even though her love is weak and immature. He encourages her to: “follow the tracks of the sheep”. The bride is to get into the places where the sheep have walked. To me, this is not speaking of something present, but instead, looking at history. Where have the faithful walked? Follow the tracks of the heroes of faith. What about those heroes strengthens my walk? Reading Hebrews 11 and biographies of those who have gone before me causes my heart to be inspired by their unwavering, unceasing devotion to Jesus.

From these verses, I pull out 3 ideas:1. Avoid isolation (get with the flock)

Gather with those who are desperate for Him~ be aligned with the right people to stir up your faith

This is not only a Sunday reality, but it is a gathering together to share life~ praying, releasing wisdom, grace, communion, prophesying over one another, etc.

Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

2. Avoid idleness (we are called to feed the ones that Jesus puts before us)

Is there anyone you are called to mentor, disciple, or spiritual father/mother?

Teaching Sunday School or having a backyard Bible Club in the summer?

Having a Bible study with some friends?

3. Avoid independence (submit to others; rightly relating to others)

Submitting and honoring leaders in your life

Yielding your hearts to one another

When and with whom do you gather with others?(Are you in the right "herd"? Are you stirred up to love Jesus more and know Him better?)Whose "tracks" have you followed?(Is there anyone you want to read about from history? Whose tracks you want to imitate?)